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Young Son Throwing up Only at Night or Early Morning

My 11 year old son complained one eve of his stomach hurting. He had diarrhea and we gave him the natural remedies we were accustomed to.He was feeling a little better by bedtime and went to sleep right away. At 5:00 am he came into our bathroom and threw up. What's weird is that he threw up dinner from the night before (almost 12hrs earlier). Next day he was fine....he still had the diarrhea. We went to be confident that it was over. At midnight he again came in our room and threw up. Is there a virus that does that? If so...why haven't we gotten it? Any suggestions?

So What Happened?™

Thanks to ALL the responses...it is great to have this to get everyones opinions. Okay so after the second night I went to the local healthfood store and got digestive enzymes, acidophilis and some "pop" called raspberry ginger brew. Since he can swallow pills I had him take the Dig. enz. with his meals (small meals like homemade eggnog or smoothies) then the acidophilis between meals. Then had him sip the "pop" different times in the day and right before he went to bed. No vomiting!!! He was pretty happy. Next day same thing...and no vomiting. So....I really don't know what is WAS but evidentially it wasn't something serious. His tummy doesn't hurt now except a twinge now and again. So...I guess we are on the mend. So far the rest of us haven't gotten it. Hope we don't!!! Thanks again everyone! J.

Featured Answers

A.C.
answers from Portland
on
May 07, 2008

My 2 year old did the same thing last week. It seems to be going around. My son got a fever one morning and we knew the end was soon. None of us got it. I hope he's feeling better and none of you got it!

More Answers

D.D.
answers from Portland
on
May 07, 2008

We've had the same stomach crud going through our house. It has been going on for over a week now. Vomiting one day, diarrhea the next, then nothing just to be followed by diarrhea again. There seems to be no pattern to it. So far 5/6 of the family members have gotten it, some worse than others. The last person is just waiting... hopefully it won't hit him! Lucky for him, he was very behind in his schoolwork so he was packed away in his room for the most of the week and the week before catching up! He hasn't really been exposed! lol...
You can take your son to the doctor, but more than likely it's this nasty virus. Give it a couple days and see what happens. Of course if he spikes a sudden high fever or has sharp abdominal pain he should be seen immediately.
Good luck!

No it's a virus. My son has the same thing. He has been doing this since Friday. There is a new string of the flu flying around. I'm like you and haven't gotten it yet...knock on wood. But my husband got it and then my mother. But me fine so far. Just take good care of him. I'm giving my son yogurt to help the good bacteria fight the bad. And pedialight to replace stuff he loses. It helped my husband.

My son did something similar a couple of months ago. He was violently ill and vomiting one night, fine the next day, had diahrea the next day, fine the next day etc...it lasted for a week or so. Seems to be lots of stomach garbage going around this year.

if he is having any abdominal pain or fever or the vomiting/diarrhea lasts longer than a few days then you should have him checked out by a doctor, having him checked for celiac sprue is a good idea too. watch for signs of dehydration (decreased urine output, dry mucus membranes, fatigue). good luck.

My 2 year old did the same thing last week. It seems to be going around. My son got a fever one morning and we knew the end was soon. None of us got it. I hope he's feeling better and none of you got it!

J.,
Two things come to mind. One is stress and the other is some type of parasite in his digestive tract.
Get him checked out by the doctor to rule out everything.
My girlfriends teen son had something similar when he came home from a camping trip and after many visits to the doctor and many treatments over a period of three weeks that he had caught an uncommon bug. He is now well.

I wouldn't worry too much. You can always try a little nux Vomica if you need to keep him from throwing up but sometimes the body needs to purge. It may be an allergy, something the body was unable to process, or it could be a simple stomach flu. You may not have it because you have a strong immune system. Or perhapse he was exposed to it at school or a friend's house and it simply has not incubated yet. Whatever the case, probably not terminal, but maybe look at target allergen foods he may have eaten in the last 24 hours.

Could be the flu. Could be food poisoning. It could be alot of things. If he has a fever and diarrhea for more than 2 days get him checked out so he doesnt get dehydrated and such. Make sure he drinks lots of fluids. No sports drinks, mostly water and crackers. 7-up helps too. But, if he drinks too fast he may just upchuck it again so make sure its slow sips. good Luck

My daughter had something similar. She ended up having acid refux. She would get up at 1 am everytime and throw up, but it didn't happen every night. Sometimes 3 nights would go by and then it would start again. Try proping his bed up at least 6 inches at the head. Don't feed him anything 3 hours before bed and no spicy foods. I hope this helps.

Sometimes when the body has a "flu" or salmonella poisoning, it takes about 24 hours for it to completely go away. If you eat too soon, it comes back. That may be what happened.

He may want to go on clear liquids for another 24 hours and see if that does the trick. Often with flu or poisoning, the body needs a rest in order to heal itself. diahrea and vomitting go hand in hand. They can be caused by the same problem. In our house one person will have diahrea and the other will have vomitting - from the same flu.

I never advocate "taking something" to stop the diahrea or the vomiting unless it goes on more than 24 hours, and is very severe. The reason is, the body knows what to do to heal itself, and it's much healthier to let it do what it's done for thousands of years, than to mess around with it.

I have had some similar instances with my son who is 7 1/2 years old. After having some tests ran to rule out other possible causes, we began treating him with acid reducers such as Zantac to control acid reflux. He seemed to be vomiting at night when he would lay down, and then again in the morning with an empty stomach. Since being on the acid reducers he has done much better (about 6 months). About 2 weeks ago he ran out and I decided to see how he would do without them, low and behold he has started vomiting again. Definitely have your son checked out by a doctor, especially with the diarrhea going on. I hope this information helps and good luck.

I think it is a viurs. My kids had the same thing. They are 22 months. The vomiting was mostly at night. And the diarhhea hit a few days after the vomiting. They were down pretty hard for over a week. Just keep lots of fluids in him and try yogurt for the diarrhea. My son got it on a Sat night, I got it Tues afternoon and my daughter got it Tueaday night. My husband never got it. Good luck. It it not fun.

Hello
This is odd. My 18 month old son has been doing the same thing for 2-3 weeks, off and on. Just when he stops for 3-5 days, we think it's over and then he's right back to it. My son is also completely ok during the day and plays and eats normally. It's completely random when he vomits, but he only vomits at night, and like your son, it's usually food he's eaten 8-15 hours prior.
I'm taking my son to the pediatrician today and I'll let you know if the doctor says it's a virus or likely an allergy. If you find out anything, please let me know.
Good luck!

The symptoms you describe are Celiac, or Celiac sprue. That's the age my son started that. We had a friend whose son threw up violently for 2 years, and his primary dismissed it. Only when an intern was in one day, did he recognize it, & order the blood test. We were fortunate. Our Dr Doctor recognized it immediately. Over a period of 6 months, Ashton

For information, you can visit Celiac.com. This is an auto immune disorder that produces anti bodies to wheat, rye, barely gluten, the protein found in the grain. But worse than that is that the anti bodies mistake the CELIA of the intestine, and destroy that too, which interferes with digestion, and absorption. It requires 100% gluten free diet, and... other than the lifestyle changes, will live a normal healthy life. You can take him off of it immediately, no bread, pasta, cakes, cookies etc. It will still be in his system for up to 3 weeks, so you can make the DR apt for the testing.

If you have other questions, or need more information, feel free to contact me. It IS a huge adjustment, took me 3 months to get my mind wrapped around it. I can recommend dr too if you are on the east side of Portland/Gresham.

As I studied it, I realized that it is a genetic issue, and that I was the parent with it. Although my symptoms of throwing up were way back in college, I had suffered chronic fatigue syndrome and malnutrition for no explained reason. When I went gluten free, I too felt much better.

J. B, I can't say for sure (of coarse) however you may look into acid reflux. Both I and both my sons (now 10 & 7)fight with this and it could be a possibility. Unsure of the diareah aspect, however the other all sounds like a option to check out. One of my sons has dealt with it since he was about 18 mo. old (he scared us a lot at first until we discovered what it was). If you do look into this and decide to try to give him something for it-- there are natural things to "take" for this; please do not give into what I would call the acid reflux "drugs" (the over the counter chemical "remedies"). I hope this helps. God Bless.
B. in Battle Ground

Is he taking extra flouride-liquid or pills? We had a friend who would get sick most mornings and we found it was because the flouride pills didn't sit well if he ate dairy within 3 hours before or after taking the pills at night. So by morning he would get sick once then feel fine all day.

I have never heard of a virus doing this but it wouldnt surprise me with al the new stuff that has been going around. Is he able to eat breakfast and lunch and all that? If so he may have an ulser that is irriatable and that is what is causing it. My hub when he was ten had an ulcer that got so bad he was doing something similar. To this day if he thinks he may have one he goes to the doc because it was so horrible for him. I would talk to the doc and see what input they have. He may have food allergy that has spruted or something too. you want to cover all angles. But since it is vomiting and the runs it would leave me to believe it is a weird virus.